Court orders to examine how much pasteurised milk is safe

Staff Correspondent: The High Court has directed the authorities to examine the pasteurised milk and submit a report within one month about how much the milk is safe to drink.

Justice Jubaer Rahman Chowdhury and Justice Iqbal Kabir passed the order on Monday after hearing on a petition filed for public interest.

The court also ordered to form a probe body comprising experts from food ministry, health ministry, BSTI and other bodies.

Recently media report that a new research has found more than 75 of all pasteurised milk marketed in Bangladesh unsafe for direct consumption.

Researchers at the icddr,b have revealed the disturbing findings about the commercially pasteurised milk, the primary source of nutrition for children in Bangladesh.

The Dhaka-based diarrhoeal disease research centre says at every stage of the dairy value chain - from the farm to store - milk is found to be “highly contaminated with bacteria” above national and international standards.

However, this can only be dangerous if consumed raw or unboiled, which is often the case in Bangladesh, according to the researchers.

To assess the microbiological quality of milk at different stages of the dairy value chain, the researchers analysed 438 raw milk samples from milk producers, collectors, chilling plants, local restaurants in the northern part of the country and 95 samples from commercially processed milk found on the shelves of local retail stores in Dhaka and Bogura.

They found 72 percent samples from primary-level producers were contaminated with coliform and 52 percent with faecal coliform bacteria.

They also found 11 percent of these samples were contaminated with high amount of E coli.


risingbd / Dhaka / May 21, 2018 / Mahidi/Mukul